The invention relates to a tool magazine system for a machining spindle, comprising a gripper which picks up tools from a tool magazine, guides them to a machining spindle, for example of a machining centre or machine tool, and passes them to said spindle.
Tool magazine systems of this type are well known. In machine tools such as machining centres, cutting machines or lathes, particularly for the metal-processing industry, their function is to make a wide variety of tools available in rapid sequence according to the predetermined machining steps of the tool spindle. The tools in question are generally cutting tools such as drills or milling cutters. But it is perfectly possible to provide a machining head instead of a machining spindle, the head possibly having a tool spindle.
The known solution has the disadvantage that the arrangement of the tool magazine, in which several hundred very different tools are stored, takes up a very large space. Known systems pick up the tools from above, which necessitates a flat arrangement of the tools adjacent one another. At the same time the manipulator which handles the gripper needs a corresponding amount of space, resulting in very large installations.
The object of the present invention is therefore to provide an improved tool magazine system of the type described above, so as to enable a larger number of tools to be accommodated in the tool magazine system, while maintaining the same area requirement.